Aftermath
by Dragon KeyboardFreak
Summary: When wandering the Shredder's palace a month after his defeat at the other dimension's Donatello's hands, April, Angel, and a man called Jack find something horrifying and then find something heartbreaking. Rated T for blood, death, and skeletons. Yet another SAINW fanfic.


**So, uh... I got this idea while doing the dishes, ironically enough. It deviates from my usual stuff as I normally put some sort of fluff and brotherly love into my** _Ninja Turtles_ **fics, but this time... nada.**

 **...Please don't kill me for what I did.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own** _Ninja Turtles_ **in any way, shape or form.**

 **0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

It had been a month since the other dimension's Donatello had arrived and helped them defeat the Shredder and Karai once and for all.

While only three, the losses of Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo were great and many mourned their passing, but honored them for helping to take down the Shredder.

Now that humanity was learning to get back on its feet, April O'Neil took two of her Lieutenants, Angel and a man called Jack, into the Shredder's palace, hoping to discover its secrets.

As the three wandered around, they came across many things, but none that would be of interest or of use to them.

Finally, they came to the Shredder's personal room and April hacked into the computer that was there. She quickly found a journal and read aloud,

" _Those turtles are a thorn in my side, to be sure._

 _However, it is not the one called Leonardo that has most of my hatred._

 _No... it is the purple banded one called Donatello._

 _If not for him... Stockman would not continue to fail me. If not for him, the turtles would start to fight amongst themselves and part._

 _I must find a way to take him out so that I may continue my plans to rule the world._ "

Ending that one, she quickly found one from exactly 30 years ago and read,

" _I have done it! I have captured the one called Donatello!_

 _As I write this, my men are torturing that blasted creature as I have given them free reign. They will torture him long and hard before he finally gives in and dies._

 _I know that due to the way we have captured him, his family will simply think that he disappeared. They will start fighting, they will blame him and each other, and then... my plans can finally come to fruition!_

 _With Donatello dead, no one will stand in my way. Even if there are those who somehow escape my hand, they will never be able to take me out._

 _After all... it is only because of Donatello that they remain together, they remain a family. Without him... they are not a family._ "

All three were silent for a good few minutes before Angel snarled, "If the other dimension's Donnie hadn't taken Shredder out already... I'd do it myself! How dare he kill Donnie?!"

Jack didn't want to say it, but he did, "Unfortunately, the Shredder was right. With Donatello still alive, the turtles would never have disbanded and I'm sure that Splinter wouldn't have died. From everything I've learned about him from the two of you and Michelangelo... Donatello was the glue."

April swallowed as she nodded and murmured, "Yes. You're right, Jack. He was."

He placed a hand on the shoulders of both women and said, "Come on. Let's go explore some more. We can come back here later."

The two nodded.

Espying a door, Angel walked over and opened it, only to gasp at the sight of what was in it.

The other two rushed over and their own eyes widened.

It was a torture room, plain and simple.

But this was a mixture of medieval and modern.

On the right side of the room was the ancient torture devices, such as the Brazen Bull from Ancient Greece, a neck torture device, the Judas Cradle, an Iron Maiden, and many more.

On the left side of the room was the modern torture devices. Just from what April could see, she recognized the Hell Confinement, the Cat O' Nine Tails, and what looked to be a built in cold-cell.

Jack pulled the two women out as he said, "Enough."

"There was... there was blood on them. Who did the Shredder use on them?!" Angel asked in a horrified voice.

"Something tells me we don't want to know," Jack answered grimly as he pulled the two of them away.

As they wandered for the next ten minutes, still thinking of the torture room at the same time, Jack noticed a darkened hallway that was incredibly dusty.

Frowning, he pulled out a flashlight and shined it into the hallway

"Whoa, that is extremely dusty. I wonder why Shredder allowed it to happen," Angel said, peering down at what she could see.

April walked forward and the two followed, all three of them on guard for anything.

When they came to the end of the hallway twenty minutes later, it was to the sight of a strange looking machine guarding a single door.

The machine moved and when it finished standing, they got a view of what it really was.

The being stood a height of 5'0 and was slim, but it was clearly meant for fighting.

It's eyes glowed eerily in the dark, being a peridot green color.

It titled its head and spoke in a mechanical female voice, " **I** **t has been many years since I have last seen a human** **.** "

April managed to find her voice after a moment and asked in an awed whisper "Wh-who are you?"

" **I do not have a designation. I was never given one. Why has the noise in the palace stopped?** "

"The Shredder is dead. Killed; a month ago," Jack said strongly.

To their surprise, the machine did not immediately attack them, but said instead, " **Then that means I am no longer bound to him.** "

"Why were you created?" April couldn't help but ask.

The being was silent for a moment before it answered, " **I was once organic, just as you are. In fact, I still retain my human body's heart and brain, but I no longer have memories of my human life. The only thing I truly remember is my organic side's death. I was "created" in order to protect the occupant within the room behind me. The Shredder did not want anything to happen to it, so he ordered my creation.** **I have protected it for these past 25 years though it no longer lives.** "

The three were silent, thinking that over.

The being watched them for a moment before it said, " **Before you enter, you must kill me. My "life force" is tied to the door. It will not open until I am dead.** "

April stared at it before she said, "Very well."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Angel asked.

" **Long have I seen this body as a prison. I wish to be released. I wish to see my human family on the other side if they are there. I wish to regain my memories,** " it answered.

She nodded and Jack strode forward.

The being opened up its chest plate to reveal the beating heart and Jack lifted his sword, taking aim, before striking.

They watched as the being fell, as if in slow motion, before it crashed onto the floor, sending dust flying everywhere.

"Be at peace," April murmured to the dead being.

Jack carefully touched the door, but when nothing happened, he took hold of the handle and opened it.

Inside was a lavish room, decorated in royal blue.

Sitting on the left side of the room, there was gadgetry spread across a worktable that had clearly never been touched while on the other side of the room was a bed that looked to be a replica of an Elizabethan era bed.

Only April recognized it as a four-poster bed from the medieval times.

What caught all three's attention was the figure that was lying on it.

As the room was quite large and they were unable to identify it from the door, they walked forward, only for both April and Angel to cry out in horror and denial.

It was a bone white skeleton with a frayed and faded purple mask over its eyes. Lying next to the figure was a simple staff made of wood with the same color ribbon around its middle.

Jack swallowed as he took the two woman into his arms.

This is not how they wanted to find Donatello.

As the two women sobbed into his chest, Jack could only gaze mournfully at the skeleton of Donatello.

He had most likely simply laid down, refusing to eat, until he finally passed away of hunger.

And he had no doubt that the torture devices that they had found had been used on the kind and gentle turtle.

After a couple of minutes, April pulled away and took off her duffel bag—which had been empty in case they found something they could use—and said, "Jack. Help me put Donnie in this. We're not leaving him here. We're going to bury him with his family."

Jack nodded and carefully began to move the bones into the duffel bag before he said, "I'll carry his shell. It's too big to fit into the bag."

With that, the three left the Shredder's palace, stopping only to get shovels, before continuing to the mutant family's burial site.

Sitting on the left side of Splinter's grave was Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo's graves.

"Let's put him on the other side of Splinter," April said softly.

The two nodded and they dug through the dirt until they deemed it deep enough to carefully placed Don's bones into the grave.

Once it was filled back up, April said, "Keep them out of trouble, Donnie. I'm sorry we failed you."

She then turned and said to her two companions, "It's time we freed our world from Shredder's grip. It's time to rebuild."

They nodded and left, never seeing the 20 year old spirit of Donatello watching them leave with a gentle smile.

 _You could never fail me, or my brothers and father, April. Thank you for watching over them the best you could._

Then, the spirit disappeared.

 **0-0-0-0-0-0**

 **As I said, please don't kill me for what I did!**

 **As for the torture devices, all of them are real. You can even look them up.**


End file.
